The Wager- BBW Erotic Curvy Paranormal Romance (TOUCH OF THE GODS) (16 page)

The intricate hilt was decorated with blood red thorns spattered along a gold and black vine. My brother held it tightly, the indecision showed on his face as he contemplated whether to should trust his son or not. Our hopes were that he was as paranoid as Zeus.
“Hephaestus? Get your limp ass down here!”

             
With a grim smile, I straightened my clothes, pulled out of Eros's mind, and flickered myself over to the backyard, where they waited.

I saw that Eros remained kneeling.

Vanessa inhaled sharply and I could hear her heart rate increase speed.

It did much to my ego to know that despite being under Ares' spell, she would always be mine. Crossing my arms, I shifted my weight from my bum leg, making my posture look as nonchalant as possible.

My brother studied the sword one last time, before raking me with a repugnant stare. “Himeros here says you made this for me, as a gift from him. Is this true?”

             
“Of course. He is most sorry for the pain he caused you.”

             
Ares nodded, but I could still see him mulling over whether or not he could trust his son. If only he knew it wasn't his offspring he needed to worry about. Standing still, I watched my brother swing the sword around, practicing his battle moves.

A soft sigh come from Vanessa.

I knew he was showing off for her, pulling her back into his grasp.

I wanted to laugh for what was to come, but I kept my cool. This needed to be done at the proper moment.

Ares spun around, narrowly missing Eros and stopped, his chest puffing out like a rooster.

Vanessa clapped her hands at the display.

I even had to admit it was a pretty darn good move.

             
“You see, brother? War always wins and this is yet another wager. One that my son Eros, will lose to me and I can’t wait to rub it in his pretty, little face!”

             
“Yes, Ares, you are truly supreme. Nothing gets past you.”

             
With a brilliant smile, he nodded and glanced down at the kneeling, fake Himeros.

Almost time.

              “Alright, boy. I accept this gift and will think about rescinding your death sentence. Come to me, woman. Be with the stronger of the brothers!”

             
Before she could take a step, Eros jumped into action, his hair and clothing changing back to their normal looks as he grabbed Vanessa to hold her back.

Ares roared with anger at the trick. He started forward with the sword drawn and pointed directly at his son's chest.

The young god managed to wrap himself with his metal wings, just in time of his father lunging the blade and it was deflected with a loud clang. Unfortunately, the force of the hit knocked both my nephew and Vanessa to the ground, and the loud thud I heard was that of Eros's head striking a stone in the grass.

With him knocked out, she was caught under his massive weight.

From the rage in Ares' eyes, I knew he didn't care whether she was there or not. He raised his sword once more and was about to deliver a blow that would kill them both.

Between the sound of her scream, the smell of my nephew's blood spilling and my anger at my brother's lack of caring that he was about to execute a mortal, I lost my control. Flashing before him, I knocked him back with my own power, so hard that his body bent his cycle in half. It would have been nice if it I had hurt him, but when he stood, his knuckles were white from the tight hold he had on his sword, I knew I only pissed him off more. His body glowed with barely leashed control as he ran toward me, his battle cry loud enough to rock the earth to its core.

              “Hephaestus! Watch out!” Vanessa's voice was laced with fear and her concern for me.

It touched my heart, while I knew I wouldn't die this day, I sure as hell wouldn't let him near her ever again.
              Gathering all my strength, I counted down as he drew nearer. Three, two, one...

“Energopoií̱sete!”

              At my command, the hilt melted into the eight limb body of a black scorpion with red spiky legs, while the blade shifted into a golden tail adorned with a deadly, sharp stinger. The creature wound itself around his hand and forearm, hissing and wiggling in a grotesque manner.

Ares froze in his stampede and turned several shades of pale. This was the one creature he truly feared. He screamed in horror at the monster arachnid, the sound a combination of a shrieking harpy and a cat whose tail was caught under a car tire.

In fact, it was so loud, Eros was jolted awake as both he and Vanessa stared, unblinking at my brother's theatrics.

He danced around, yelling and pointing at his arm, shaking it to dislodge the animatronics, but it wouldn't budge. It actually moved as though to strike him, but only in pretense and yet, he shrilled even higher than what any goddess could manage. “Get it off of me! Oh gods, help? Someone help!”

              Ares ran in circles, tears flowing down his face as he tried in vain to free himself.

  I couldn't help but chuckle out loud at his display.

Slowly, Eros joined me, then Vanessa and as our mirth grew, my insides began to ache from laughing so hard.

The scorpion wriggled up his arm until it firmly wrapped itself around his neck and shoulders, causing the War God to give up fighting and fall to the ground in a heap of sobs. Whimpering, he begged weakly for anyone to aid him and while our laughter still came in waves, I almost felt sorry for the guy—almost.

However, it was best that I finished this besting of my War God brother. I walked over until I stood above him, arms crossed and stance wide. “You want my help, Ares?”

             
“Yes, please? I'll do anything!”

             
Stroking my chin, several days worth of beard growth making it rough and scratchy, I stretched out my decision, just to see him squirm a bit more. Call it wrong, but I had been waiting for this moment since the dawn of fucking civilization! I certainly wasn't going to let it go to waste. If I had a mirror, I knew my eyes would be ablaze with the small flames of my godhood.

  Ares stared up at me, his eyes puffy from his girlish crying.

  I knew I had him beneath my heel. “Anything you say? Well then, I shall make this simple. Stay away from Vanessa. You are not to speak in her mind or dreams. You are not to come from Olympus to this place or any place she frequents. If you want me to free you of my contraption? You will have to release her from your spell.”

             
“You think you can own me? Never! I will not lose!”

             
Snapping my fingers, the scorpion moved its tail until the shiny point dug into the soft underside of his chin, and my grin broadened when his bottom lip quivered.

             
“Alright, dammit! I'll do it. I'll leave her be, I swear!”

             
“On the River Styx.”

             
“Yes, whatever! I swear to do all that you said on the River Styx! Now get this blasted thing off of me!”

             
Leaning forward, I pressed down on a hidden button between the creatures ruby red eyes, turning it back into the normal looking sword. Next, I seized my brother by his hair. Pulling him back, I made him look me straight on and sneered low, so only he could hear. “You leave here now, Ares. And if you ever come back, there will be no gods to save you from what I will do. Understood?”

             
The Adam's apple in his throat bobbed as he struggled to swallow, but he nodded, and without even a glance toward Vanessa or Eros, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Standing, I quickly went to my nephew's side, his head wound had already healed. I hugged him close. We stood then, and I helped Vanessa up, flashing us both inside her home. We did it. We beat Ares and now I could go forward with getting her back into my life without interruption.

“Well, kids, that was fun!” Eros cheered.

             
Shaking my head, it was nice to see that my nephew was okay, and back to his normal self.

Of course, awkwardness filled the room, as three was becoming a crowd. Thankfully, the Love God knew when it was time to call quits and let Vanessa and I talk. “I'm going to go but first, I'll do a bit of mind erasing. You know, just in case any neighbors witnessed the crazy gods brawl? You two behave. Or not!”

              With that, Eros was gone, leaving behind him a scented trail of strawberries and cream. Leave it to him to try and set a mood that wasn't quite there.

Once alone, I stared down into the hazel eyes of the woman I loved enough to fight a family member and realized how tired she appeared. It was obvious to me, that when Ares left with the promise to let her go, he pulled all of his power from her.

Before I could blink, Vanessa started to droop to the floor. I wrapped my arms around her before she could collapse, and sweeping her into my clutch, I faded up to her bedroom and laid her upon the bed.

Her skin had turned almost grayish and her body trembled uncontrollably. There was a word for this in the immortal world, but the easiest explanation was withdrawal.

Kneeling beside her, I manifested a cool, damp cloth and pressed it against her forehead, wishing I could take her pain away. Unfortunately, my abilities did not extend to this particular ailment, and it would last several days, being worse at the peak. Or now, was my thought when I had to dodge and grab her wastebasket in time to catch her hurling over the side of the bed. Vanessa coughed and gagged, while I held her hair back, waiting for her to finish and wishing I could help her.

Finally, she fell back, weakened even more than before and never had I seen her look so frail, her heavy-lidded eyes gazing at me sadly. “This sucks, huh? Sorry, that you had to watch that.”

              “It's alright. I should be the one apologizing, Vanessa. I am the cause of this.”

             
“Yeah, you kind of are. I guess though, I'll forgive you. I mean, you did hold my hair back.”

             
Chuckling, I admired her spirit during such a dismal time and it was one of the reasons I loved her. On my haunches, I decided that I would be staying until she got better, whether she wanted me to or not. For I was pretty sure, a normally independent woman such as she, would rather handle something even this serious on her own.

Standing, I rubbed the stiffness out of my injured leg, flipped open my phone and called the museum, letting them know I'd be away for about a week and smirked down at Vanessa.

              “What the hell do you think you're doing, Hephaestus?”

             
“I'm going to care of you. Let me go home and grab some clothes and toiletries, then I'll return as fast as I can.”

             
“I don't think so! I'm finally free of your brother. I'm done with men and will take care of myself.” She tried sitting up, but once her head lifted a mere inch from the pillow, she swayed and dropped back with a low groan.

With a long sigh, I pulled the covers up to her chin, and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I'm going to go get my things.”

              “No.”

             
“Still on that are we? Well then fine, I will just have to go without clothing.” Call it wrong, but standing tall, my clothing melted away until I stood nude before her and I watched her eyes widen as they roamed from my head to my groin, which tightened under her scrutiny. I had to think long and hard about my brother Ares' hairy ass, just so I didn't seem completely uncivilized with a brass stiffened hard-on. She was ill, therefore needed me to be more focused and less horny.

Vanessa shivered again, and I knew it was not from the side effects of sickness.

              “Let me get under those covers with you, Vanessa. You look cold.” I took one step and she practically shot across to the other side. It was hard to hold back my laughter at the way her face was contorted in a mixture of both raw passion and a ‘shut the fuck up’ glare. Maintaining my nudity, I crossed my arms and waited for her to snap at me.

She didn't disappoint. “You get some damn clothes on, mister! If you're going to care for me, then you'll do it dressed.”

              “So...you want me to stay?”

             
“Yes, but don't expect me to enjoy it.”

             
Giving her a gracious smile, I bowed, kissed her head once more and shimmered to my home, where I quickly packed up a few days worth of items. It was sad that I was as excited as I was, just to be able to spend time with Vanessa and get the chance to woo her the right way. A coward, I was no more! Holding my bag, I got back to her bedroom, only to find that she had fallen fast asleep. She needed it, this I knew.

Quietly, so I wouldn’t wake her, I set my things down, moved the chair from the corner to next to the bed and sat down. Even in sickness, she was stunning. Taking her hand in mine, I followed her lead, closing my eyes until I fell asleep as well.